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Kokka
}} The Kokka (コッカ) are Japanese 6.5×9cm plate folders, advertised by First Camera Works around 1935. It was certainly distributed by Minagawa Shōten, the owner of the "First" brand, and made by Kuribayashi. Made by Kuribayashi: Baird, pp.15–6 and 54–6 of Kuribayashi-Petri Cameras; , p.575. No original document has been found to confirm this. The name Kokka is written in katakana script in the original documents seen so far. Various Japanese words are pronounced kokka; the camera name certainly originates from one of these: 国花 or 国華, literally meaning "national flower" and designating the chrysanthemum, 国歌, meaning "national anthem", or 国家, meaning "state" or "nation". Description of the body The Kokka have a pressed steel body and rounded folding struts. They have a distance scale on the photographer's left, a brilliant finder offset to the left of the front standard, and a wireframe finder with a rectangular eyepiece on the rear. Two types of wireframe finders are known: one has a rectangular shape and the other has indents at the bottom and at the top corner. The leather handle and folding bed release are above the rear body. Two models exist: the simpler one has single extension bellows and is focused by moving the front standard back and forth by hand; it seems that it has no movement ability. The other model has double extension bellows driven by a worm screw on the photographer's right; it sometimes has vertical movements driven by a knob atop the right-hand branch of the U-shaped front standard, and sometimes has a bubble level attached to the brilliant finder. The original ground glass holder has the word KOKKA embossed in the metal frame, surrounded by a pair of stylized wings. See the picture in Baird, p.55 of Kuribayashi-Petri Cameras. Commercial life Some sources say that the Kokka was introduced in 1930, was substituted by the "New Kokka" in 1932 and adopted Japanese lenses and shutters in 1934, but no original document has been found to confirm this. Baird, pp.16, 54 and 56 of Kuribayashi-Petri Cameras; , p.575. Advertisements in dated May and July 1935 show the following range: May 1935: advertisement reproduced in Baird, p.17 of Kuribayashi-Petri Cameras. July 1935: advertisement reproduced in , p.72. * single extension: ** f/6.3 lens, ; ** Toko f/6.3 lens, Magna shutter, ; ** State f/4.5 lens, Magna shutter, ; * double extension: ** Toko f/6.3 lens, Magna shutter, ; ** State f/4.5 lens, Magna shutter, ; ** Tenar f/4.5 lens, Rulex B shutter, ; ** Tenar f/4.5 lens, Rulex A shutter, ; ** Trinar f/4.5 lens, rim-set Compur shutter, . The Toko and State lenses were made by Tōkyō Kōgaku, the Tenar was perhaps assembled by Neumann & Heilemann, and the Trinar was supplied by Rodenstock. Another source also reports Xenar f/4.5 lenses, Vario and Pronto shutters. Baird, p.56 of Kuribayashi-Petri Cameras. The last known advertisement is dated October 1936, and only briefly mentions the Kokka. October 1936 supplement to Camera Club, second cover. It is later than the advertisements listed in , p.336. However, three versions of the Kokka are still mentioned in the official list of set prices compiled in October 1940 and published in January 1941: the plain "Kokka" (コッカ, ¥43), the "S Kokka I" (S型コッカⅠ, ¥52) and the "S Kokka II" (S型コッカⅡ, ¥76), with no further details. , type 8, sections 1, 2 and 3. Surviving examples Surviving examples are known in the following combinations: Notes Bibliography * Items 106–7. * Pp.15–6 and 54–6. * P.69 (picture only). * P.82. * Type 8, sections 1, 2 and 3. * P.575. * Item 1077. (See also item 1185, wrongly identified as a "Happy Hand Camera", actually a Kokka.) Links In Japanese: * Kokka among other cameras in the Topcon Club website Category: Japanese 6.5x9 folding Category: Kuribayashi Category: K